Khalil Kilani is a senior at Bowdoin College studying computer science and government and legal studies. He graduated from Waynflete School in 2021. 

Khalil was born in Jordan and came to the United States as an Iraqi refugee in 2009. At Bowdoin, he served two terms as class president, pursued humanitarian work in Arizona’s Sonoran desert, advanced religious pluralism as an interfaith fellow, and led a public service immersion trip to Washington, DC. Khalil also studied abroad in Morocco and Denmark, and spent a summer volunteering in Peru as a Global Citizens Fellow.

He is an alum of the US Foreign Service Internship Program and has interned at the Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. Khalil is a three-time published author and has mentored youth through writing and storytelling while working at the Telling Room. Khalil is a Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Graduate Fellow and a Pamela Harriman Foreign Service Fellow. He aspires to pursue a career in diplomacy and continue learning languages, traveling the world, and serving his community.

Andrew is a multi-disciplinary artist who has exhibited his sculptures, short-films, digital prints, and installations in galleries and museums nationally. With more than 18 years of experience as an arts educator, curator, and community-engaged leader, he is deeply committed to fostering meaningful experiences, developing community-focused educational programs, and supporting diverse voices in the arts.

As a visual arts educator, Andrew designs curriculum and teaches across disciplines, including digital media, digital design, 3D-printing, photography, film, and social justice-themed interdisciplinary courses. He has facilitated many student-centered programs, including most recently a student show at the 1800 square feet Caelum Gallery in Chelsea and an innovative online curriculum called Climate(X)Change, which connected students from New York City, Portland, and rural Maine in creative explorations of climate justice through digital media. In addition to his work with students, Andrew has developed workshops for adult learners in digital design.

Andrew holds a Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Studio from Maine College of Art & Design and a Master of Arts in Teaching from The Johns Hopkins University. He received an undergraduate degree in Landscape Architecture from Cornell University.

Kafari is the alias of Cincinnati, OH-born, Portland, ME-based pianist, rhythm bones player, beatmaker, and teaching artist Ahmad Muhammad. Kafari’s music synthesizes his love of ambient piano music, spiritual jazz, and experimental hip-hop, inspired by the musical legacies of Dorothy Ashby, J Dilla, Chopin, and the Carolina Chocolate Drops, who in a 2014 performance sparked his interest in the rhythm bones—an Irish percussion instrument popularized in America through blackface minstrelsy which Kafari often distributes and teaches to his audiences.